An unexpected chemical reaction caused a Kalispell business to be evacuated Thursday morning.Shortly before 9 a.m., an unknown chemical got into a barrel of hydrogen peroxide and began heating rapidly, according to Kalispell Fire Chief Dave Dedman.Employees at Valley Linen on Fifth Avenue West were outside by the time fire and police crews arrived. ‰??The workers there did the right thing,‰?? Dedman said. ‰??They cleared out and called us.‰??The mixture of chemicals had reached 186 degrees by the time the fire department‰??s hazardous-materials crew arrived. Less than a gallon of liquid spilled.With people clear of any gaseous hazard, Dedman said firefighters waited for the reaction to finish and made sure the area was safe. They were at the scene for an hour and a half. Valley Linen was responsible for disposing of the barrel, he said.

It was a Sunday morning. My kids were watching a cartoon. I was reading the paper. And my husband, who does some small-time antiques dealing in his spare time, was monkeying around with one of his treasures in the kitchen.

‰??It was an old blood-pressure cuff, in a self-contained metal box with a flip-top lid, probably from the 1950s,‰?? he recalled.

‰??I was in our breakfast nook at a counter space, kind of checking this thing out, trying to figure out how it was put together ‰?| and then you came in the room and said, is that mercury all over the place?‰??

It was. About two tablespoons‰?? worth.

We called Poison Control, which told us we should get the kids out of the house, and the state Department of Environmental Quality, which put us in touch with a toxicologist from the Michigan Department of Community Health.

‰??We get more concerned about children being exposed to the mercury vapors, because children are shorter than we are, so their breathing zone is going to be closer to the floor, which is typically where the mercury ends up, and children are not as developed ‰?? physiologically, biologically yet, as far as being able to ward off any toxic effects of that,‰?? said Christina Bush

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. -- Authorities in Rowan County are investigating a deadly wreck involving a tanker truck that was carrying ethanol Thursday morning.

The tanker truck overturned around 7 a.m. on Bringles Ferry Road near Panther Point Road.

Officials told NBC Charlotte reporter Richard DeVayne that the driver of the truck was killed during the single-vehicle wreck. The truck was carrying 8,000 gallons of ethanol.

Authorities expect to have the road closed for most of today as emergency crews and hazmat teams from the Charlotte Fire Department and 13 other agencies work to clean-up the ethanol that was spilled.

Emergency officials had to evacuate three houses directly adjacent to the crash, they told residents in several other nearby homes to shelter in place.

"We are concerned about an explosion hazard so that's one of our biggest concerns right now," Frank Thomason from Rowan County Emergency Management said. The truck was from Eco Systems out of Franklin, Tennessee and the driver had just filled the tank in Denton.

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COUNTY HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO OSSINING FOR CHEMICAL SPILLTags: us_NY, public, release, response, magnesium

Approximately 1,400 gallons magnesium hydroxide was spilled onto Water Street and Snowden Avenue in Ossining Thursday afternoon, and the county‰??s Hazmat team has been called in to clean it up.

Details of the spill were not immediately available, but Kempter‰??s Fire Wire tweeted about the incident, linking to the above photo from Instagram. A portion of the roadways appear to have been temporarily closed.

According to Wikipedia, magnesium hydroxide ‰??is a common component of antacids and laxatives.

February‰??s explosion at the ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery will have financial implications not only for the energy giant, but for the city of Torrance‰??s bottom line as well.

The expected sale of the refinery, which industry insiders have said is all but a certainty, will be delayed until early 2016 because the damage to a crucial piece of equipment resulted in the cessation of gasoline production, according to Reuters news service.

The agency cited anonymous sources familiar with the transaction, which was said to be ‰??imminent‰?? before the blast.

At the same time, the halt in production is costing the city of Torrance $500,000 to $700,000 a month in lost utility-users‰?? taxes, Finance Director Eric Tsao said.

‰??ExxonMobil is the city‰??s largest user of electricity and natural gas, which generates utility-users‰?? tax to the city,‰?? Tsao wrote in the recently released midyear budget review. ‰??The shortfall in overall revenues at year-end should be offset by expenditure savings at fiscal year-end.‰??

WKBN got a tip in the newsroom around 8 p.m. Thursday about a spill at 884 Sodom Hutchings Road near old Route 82 (Warren Sharon Road). When our news crew went out to investigate, there were crews from Kleese Development Associates cleaning up some type of a spill in a wetlands area near one of their fracking wells.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is overseeing the cleanup.

The chemical did seep into a nearby pond and killed the wildlife, which included fish and turtles. The owner of that pond said he noticed the dead fish on Monday and called the Ohio EPA.

The company presented its preliminary report on the March 27 incident to the county this week, the same day that a crew of expert internal investigators began work on determining a root cause of the accident.

Dow Chemical spokesman John Kneibel says a team of Dow specialists from around the country hopes to figure out what led to the 2:50 a.m. release of thousands of pounds of chemicals into the air, and what it can do to prevent such problems in the future.

‰??This is not something that happens very often, even with Dow Chemical Company Global, so we‰??re going to take a very close look and see what things may have caused this,‰?? Kneibel says.

Country Costa County Chief Environmental Health and Hazardous Materials Officer Randy Sawyer says the company alerted the proper parties and responded quickly to the incident.

At issue is a tank used as a combination reactor and dryer in the processing of antimicrobial chemicals. Sawyer says the tank normally evaporates methylene chloride, condenses it and cycles it back into the tank, which helps keep the reaction cool. He says Dow believes the line back into the tank may have become plugged.

Taney County Fire Chief Ted Martin tells KY3 News that hoses that pump chemicals into the laundry equipment popped off, spilling about 12 ounces and causing an accidental mixture. Some of that mixture got on an industrial dryer, and once it became hot, emitted fumes that made seven people sick.

Chief Martin says the HazMat crew safety contained the spill and the hotel was able to return to normal operations. The seven people affected by the spill were taken to Cox Medical Center Branson for respiratory problems, but Chief Martin expects they'll fully recover and their issues are non-life-threatening.

PALO ALTO -- A chemistry teacher suffered first- and second-degree burns Wednesday while conducting an experiment at Palo Alto High School, according to fire and school officials.

Silja Paymer was teaching and demonstrating at the front of her class when a chemical reaction caused a small fire, Principal Kim Diorio said in a letter to parents. Paymer's clothes and hair caught fire.

"She immediately doused the flame in the emergency showers that are located in all of our science classrooms," Diorio said. "Her quick thinking prevented any additional injuries or damage to the classroom." Students left the room and ran to get help, Diorio said.

Paymer suffered first- and second-degree burns to about 18 percent of her body, said Palo Alto Fire Department Battalion Chief Kevin McNally. She was taken to a burn unit for treatment.

"While she was transported for medical services, most of her injuries appear to be first degree burns, and we expect a full recovery," Diorio said.

"The situation could have been much worse were it not for the quick thinking of Ms. Paymer and her students. I can assure you that she did not lose consciousness and in speaking with her, I know she is more concerned about her students' reaction to what they witnessed than her own pain." Diorio said the school is checking in with all of the students in the class to make sure they are feeling OK, to thank them for their help and to reassure them that Paymer is doing well.

According to McNally, firefighters were called to the school at 50 Embarcadero Road around 11:23 a.m. The fire was out by the time they arrived and damaged was limited to some books and papers.

JACKSON‰?? The Chillicothe Pike exit to U.S. Route 35 westbound was closed for about six hours on Tuesday due to a Hazmat situation.At approximately 9:18 a.m. on Tuesday, March 31, an Ohio State Patrol Motor Carrier Enforcement unit performed a routine stop of a semi-tractor trailer.The officer soon discovered that the trailer of the semi was improperly placarded for Hazmat items that it was hauling. When the officer opened the back doors of the trailer, a white gas cloud escaped.The Jackson County Hazmat Team, along with Coalton Volunteer Fire Department, Jackson County EMA, Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), Jackson EMS and Jackson Sheriff's Office, all responded to the scene.According to Jackson County EMA Director Robert E. Czechlewski, the trailer contained 20 different types of chemicals and there were about 185 barrels and containers that most contained chemical residue."Initially, we thought the containers were full, but it turned out that the containers only had about a inch or so of chemical residue in them," explained Czechlewski. "But when your talking about hydrochloric acid, sulfur acid, sulfuric acid and all these other chemicals, it can get kind of nasty."

An Owens Cross Roads fireworks manufacturer partially shut down by the state fire marshal late last month following a deadly February blast that killed two workers has been allowed to resume operations.

A joint news release from Ultratec and Alabama State Fire Marshal Ed Paulk released Wednesday morning indicates that the company can resume manufacturing.

"Ultratec has been a good corporate citizen and has a good track record with our office," Paulk said. "Last week I stopped Ultratec's production activities while I reviewed certain concerns that had arisen recently. In the last few days, my office had several productive discussions with Adrian Segeren, Ultratec's president, who has worked cooperatively to address my concerns. We were able to solve these issues quickly and Ultratec's employees can now return to work."

Segeren said safety is the first priority at Ultratec.

"We are appreciative of the work that Marshal Paulk has done to ensure the safety of the citizens of Alabama. We look forward to returning to work and continuing our cooperative efforts with the Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office."

OXNARD, Calif. - A hydrogen peroxide mixture spilled Wednesday on the east edge of Oxnard out of a truck stolen from the company that owns a plant shut down by a chemical blast and fire near Santa Paula.

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